These homeless families were among many housed in a hotel in West Springfield in 2011The Republican file / Don Treeger

A slow decline in the number of homeless families housed in hotels in Western Massachusetts has, in part, prompted the state department of Housing and Community Development to announce it is planning to end the practice by June 2014.

“It is going to be a large challenge but we believed we can do it,” said Aaron Gornstein, undersecretary of the Department for Housing and Economic Development.

An increase in funding for some programs such as the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition, which grew from $267,000 to $8.7 million, and the creation of the new Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program at a cost of $6 million, will help end the practice housing families in hotels, Gornstein said.

The Residential Assistance program helps very low-income families before they become homeless while the voucher program will provide apartments and services for homeless families.

The practice of housing families in hotels, which became widespread when the recession hit around 2007, is a poor solution for families and is expensive, he said.

Some of the money for the new or better-funded programs will come from savings from not housing families in hotels. It costs an average of $3,000 to house a family in a hotel for a month while the average monthly housing subsidy is $800, Gornstein said.

The goal was partly set because of the reduction in the number of people living in hotels in Western Massachusetts recently. In July, 513 families were living in hotels in Chicopee, Greenfield, Holyoke, Springfield and West Springfield. On Dec. 31 that number dropped to 416, according to state figures.

But statewide, the total number of families in hotels has increased from 1,694 in July to 1,697 on Dec. 31.

“In Western Massachusetts, we have strong community partners,” Gornstein said. “Housing is less expensive but there are challenges in Western Massachusetts as well.”

Valley Opportunity Council is one partner involved in the rental voucher program. It will receive funding to provide housing in four vacant units in Chicopee and eight in Holyoke that it owns.

Better Homes Inc. of Springfield will be providing seven units through the program.

“I do believe the approach DHED (Department of Housing and Economic Development) has come forth with is a good one and I believe they are going to finally stop using hotels, which is a terrible situation for families,” said Stephen C. Huntley, Valley Opportunity Council executive director.

The rental voucher program will require families to spend 30 percent of their income, no matter how small it is, on rent, leaving each with enough money for food, utilities and other needs. In the past, families may have been spending as much as 90 percent of their income on rent, Huntley said.

One of the keys is the new subsidy includes money for the agency to provide a caseworker to families to connect them with needed services such as adult education, job training or child care.

A lot of families also need help in budgeting. The worker also will focus on teaching basic life skills that people are missing such as expected workplace conduct which will allow people to keep jobs, he said.

Valley Opportunity Council already offers many programs such as job training and day care but the one thing that was missing was housing so families remained unstable, Huntley said.